[bkatbamna]

Real badasses are like my friend's father who was in WWII in the Battle of the Bulge and was saying how they had to lay flat on the ground for a couple of days because if you raised your head, it got shot.  Actors and actresses are just pretending.  Even when the actors inject steroids and gain 30 pounds of muscle.

[mix4fix]

Audiences have tuned out.

Do you feel that there is too much content being released?

[bkatbamna]

Do you feel that there is too much content being released?

That's part of it.  Another part is that there is sequel, reboot, and prequel fatigue. People are also cutting cable and going with streaming.  Everyone that is streaming that isn't Netflix is not very successful.  Also, the people making the movies have decided that they don't want to give the audience what they want but want to give them what they think the audience should want. 
Movies that have given fans of the IP what they want have been successful: The Barbie Movie, Deadpool & Wolverine, Sonic 3, and Wicked.  Movies that haven't like Furiosa(who's the idiot that greenlighted a Mad Max movie without Mad Max?), The Marvels, and Madame Web(among others) flopped.
It will be interesting to see if The Ballerina(a John Wick movie with most likely just a cameo from John Wick) will be a hit or a flop.

[AllanS]

Do you feel that there is too much content being released?

Interesting question.  For me I’ve become much more selective about the time I’ll devote to open ended commitments.  For instance it takes a very special series to get my attention and then I’m more attracted to limited commitments like “Queens Gambit” or “Ted Lasso”. 
For movies the wife keeps a running list sorted by the most highly rated (public, Rotten Tomatoes, etc).  Every once in a while we’ll throw in a gratuitous ass kicker or juvenile comedy but for the most part more content is ignored unless it’s very good.

Edit to add that life is too short for ads.

[Jeff_From_Michigan]

OK, here goes. Hopefully, I didn't break any rules: I believe that Jon Hamm "became" a badass (or more accurately, the character who he is portraying in the show exhibits characteristics of what I envision in my mind to qualify as "badass" behavior) with his role in Landman. ****Let it be noted that I understand that he is acting, and that doesn't necessarily make him a badass in real life. He only became a badass to me, in this role and others may disagree.

Vince Vaughan, on the other hand, in my opinion hasn't been as convincing as the bad guy in the couple of roles that I've seen him cast that way in.

[Jeff_From_Michigan]

Interesting question.  For me I’ve become much more selective about the time I’ll devote to open ended commitments.  For instance it takes a very special series to get my attention and then I’m more attracted to limited commitments like “Queens Gambit” or “Ted Lasso”. 
For movies the wife keeps a running list sorted by the most highly rated (public, Rotten Tomatoes, etc).  Every once in a while we’ll throw in a gratuitous ass kicker or juvenile comedy but for the most part more content is ignored unless it’s very good.

Edit to add that life is too short for ads.

IMDB is another useful reference.  If something gets an IMDB score of 8 or higher, chances are that it is worth investigating further. This helps me a lot when I'm trying to find something to watch.

I hear you about the ads. (Thanks a lot, Prime!) But I figured that it was only a matter of time.

[wushuliu]

The Mad Max as an example is flat out wrong in that the generation(s) that made Fury Road a success did not grow up with the originals and therefore had no loyalty to the 'IP' whose last movie, Beyond Thunderdome, came out in... 1985. On top of that Max himself was useless in Fury Road - Furiosa was basically the main character, which is why she got her own movie. Got a problem with it take it up with George Miller. The Marvels tanked thanks to wanker former Disney CEO Bob Chapek who decided to kill the golden goose during the pandemic by pushing Marvel to crank out as many shows and movies as possible while simultaneously screwing over major talent like Scarlett Johannson. As a result we got flooded with Marvel shows and movies and straight to streaming. Let's not conveniently forget Quantumania AND Thor: Love and Thunder also underperformed. Chapek effed things up so badly he was literally fired by text. Imagine being one of the biggest CEO's in the world and you get fired by text.

And let's not forget to pour one out for my homie Tom Cruise who's last Mission Impossible tanked *hard*. Maybe Tom is one of those badass women we're so tired of but I wouldn't want to say that to his face as he is, no really, a badass. Only Jackie Chan surpasses Cruise for stunt work - but Tom Cruise can actually fly jet planes and helicopters (Navy denied his request for Maverick though). He is the last of the great Action stars. No other actor can still make a $1B just off their name.

If we're going to do the Jaws 'real badasses died at Iwo Jima'-off then I can say my brother is a true badass as his team was called down to the towers on 9/11 to assist (won't say more). He was there when they fell. He has saved lives, carries a big gun and keeps the city safe.
He would make a terrible actor though.

[Digi-G]

I don't think any thread talking about bad-ass actors (and/or real life) can be complete without mentioning Bruce Willis and Jason Statham.  There.  I said them.

Agree about Tom Cruise - not my favorite actor but he is amazing.  Agree about the 120 pound women taking on groups of big men - too unrealistic.

Some actors can make the move from bad-ass to... what was the term?  softy?  How about Sean Penn:  Bad Boys (80's movie) to I Am Sam.  Pretty good acting chops when you factor in Fast Times.  Who didn't think that was a real stoner they hired for that movie?

[Early B.]

Agree about the 120 pound women taking on groups of big men - too unrealistic.

Not sure the term "too unrealistic" can be applied to action movies. That's what the genre is all about.   

On a historical note, badass women became popular in the 70's during the Blaxploitation era with actresses such as Pam Grier (Foxy Brown) and Tamara Dobson (Cleopatra Jones). Expect to see more women starring in action movies in the coming years due to societal changes that have accepted the LGBTQ community, women in the military, the growing popularity of female MMA fighters and professional boxers, more female script writers and movie directors, etc. 

[Tyson]

Any movie where any single person wins against multiple opponents is unrealistic in the extreme.  Man or woman it doesn’t matter.

[soundofrockets]

Kill Bill - anyone.

[Mag]

Not sure the term "too unrealistic" can be applied to action movies. That's what the genre is all about.   

On a historical note, badass women became popular in the 70's during the Blaxploitation era with actresses such as Pam Grier (Foxy Brown) and Tamara Dobson (Cleopatra Jones). Expect to see more women starring in action movies in the coming years due to societal changes that have accepted the LGBTQ community, women in the military, the growing popularity of female MMA fighters and professional boxers, more female script writers and movie directors, etc.

Do you mean like Bieber? After applying lipstick and mascara given a Badass role in a movie, God forbid, that day is coming.

[Tyson]

Kill Bill - anyone.

Sorry, people here have already stated that they can't enjoy movies like Kill Bill because a woman is taking out a lot of dudes in the fight scenes.

[Letitroll98]

Has anyone commenting on fight scenes ever actually been in a bar fight or a gang fight?  In real life today this type of violence usually ends in gunfire, but if a fistfight it's nothing like seen in movies.

[Digi-G]

Maybe I shouldn't have said "unrealistic", regarding a small woman beating up groups of men.  It is a movie, so unrealistic is okay with me.

I think what I really meant is that it's over used.  I get it - everyone roots for an underdog.  And usually the men are nameless and faceless.

For the record I like the Kill Bill movies, bad-ass woman and all.  I like Lioness too.

[mix4fix]

That's part of it.  Another part is that there is sequel, reboot, and prequel fatigue. People are also cutting cable and going with streaming.  Everyone that is streaming that isn't Netflix is not very successful.  Also, the people making the movies have decided that they don't want to give the audience what they want but want to give them what they think the audience should want. 

Do you feel that Hollywood is running out of ideas? And, pushing ideas that are beyond "make believe"?

I don't believe they give a damn what the people want. they are going to push things like female Ghostbusters (and not care if it makes story sense).

Streaming will become like cable companies in my opinion. Netflix is raising their prices. And, if they were the only game in town, they will be no different than Comcast, Spectrum, Cox, or the like, Monopolizing.

[Tyson]

90% of everything is crap.  This is true this year, it was true last year and true every year in all history.  Only about 9% is actually good, and 1% is excellent. 

So your perceptions of how good a year in movies (or television, or music or books) depends on you.  If you consume the 90% that is crap, then that's a bad year.  On the other hand, if you only consume the 1% that is excellent, then the year was great. 

The only reason things seemed better in the past is we only remember the excellent stuff and filter out all the crap.  Rose tinted glasses, and all that.

[S Clark]

Any movie where any single person wins against multiple opponents is unrealistic in the extreme.  Man or woman it doesn’t matter.

Decades back when I was a competitive fencer, our Master would let us goof around sometimes after a hard workout.  Half the club would be on one side of the half court line, and half on the other- no crossing the line.   Rule was you had to engage.  When it got down to the end, even if the best rated fencer was against two low rated fencers, two on one always won.  One attacked from the right front and the other attacked from the left front.  You can only parry one. 

[wushuliu]

This is like reading the comment section of Deadline Hollywood. Why bother having a Cinema forum at all.

[WGH]

Why bother having a Cinema forum at all.

Because it gives me a chance to post reviews of the weird and wonderful films I watch.

"Amilia Perez" starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez and Badass Zoe Saldana is fantastic, adventurous film making.